1. Field of the Invention
invention relates generally to a computer controlled imaging system and, more particularly, to a digital image processing system which has the ability to compose and construct a sequential stream of scenes for a display from a library of images with sufficient processing speed to permit real-time or near real time analysis of the images by a human operator or a hardware/software equivalent thereof.
One example of the many possible applications of such a system relates to the field of vehicle simulation such as aircraft flight simulation. In such a system a visual subsystem within the aircraft flight simulation system receives flight data from a flight simulation computer and terrain data from a defined or "gaming area" data base. A data processing system within the visual simulation system organizes the flight data and terrain data to produce a simulated visual display as it would appear to an observer in the cockpit of the aircraft.
The visual system of a vehicle simulator which may be, for example, a helicopter simulator, involves a "window view of the simulated surroundings" and controls for guiding the "vehicle" in any desired direction relative to such surroundings. The term "window view" of the system herein is a display, normally in video form, of a simulated environment which corresponds to a terrain covering a large area which may be on the order of 25 to 100 square miles, for example. The simulated environment is referred to herein as a defined area or gaming area.
The operation of the controls of the vehicle guides the vehicle in, around and through the gaming area and it is the system response to the vehicle controls which determines what is seen in the window, that is, the video display. What is seen in the "window" is referred to as the field of view or FOV.